


A Pen, dearie?

by elizabookworm



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold in the Dark Castle, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, The Dark Castle (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-08 06:26:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13452426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabookworm/pseuds/elizabookworm
Summary: A one-shot of a conversation between Belle and Rumple in the Dark Castle about a pen!Can I say, I haven't posted on this in forever. I had no email/laptop etc. I found this piece saved on a USB and I don't even remember writing it, so it was obviously a while ago. I just thought I would post it before deleting my copy!





	A Pen, dearie?

Rumple was perched on the edge of his grand leather chair, rhythmically tapping his long, discoloured green nails against the dark wooden surface of his desk as he stared out the window to the grounds of the castle. What a horrible day it was; the wind was howling, the trees were shivering and the rain was beating against the castle’s grand windows as if it were trying to shatter the glass.

“Stop!” Belle had had enough, she couldn’t take much more of this incessant tapping because it was beginning to drive her insane. 

The melodic patter of his nails hitting the wood came to a halt as Rumple’s attention was drawn from the large stained glass window to corner of the room where his little maid had been laying on his red lounger, reading her book. However, for the last five minutes, he was unaware that Belle had discarded the book and she had been sending piercing daggers across the room from her ice-blue eyes, and he was the target.

“Are you going to actually tell me what’s wrong with you or are you going to sit at that desk all day with a head like Hades on you?” It wasn’t the sound of the tapping that had disrupted her from reading, if anything, Belle could zone out entirely with a book. It was the fact that HE was tapping, and he only ever did that when something was on his mind.  
Rumple titled his head and gave Belle a devious impish smirk, “There is nothing the matter with me dearie... I’m not the one having a little outburst.” 

The mischievous tone and trill of his voice didn’t resonate well with Belle and she narrowed her eyes in response to his obvious sarcasm. “Maybe next time I will believe you...” she retorted, whilst maintaining her steel-blue glare. 

Rumple widened his reptilian brown eyes and opened his mouth, feigning shock. “Insolence! Good help is so hard to find these days. Do you not have some dusting to be doing in the West wing, yeno away from me?” His hand fluttered around the air before making a final swirling motion and he gestured to the door.

He would have to tell her what was bugging him sooner or later because they both knew Belle was relentless when it came to getting answers out of him, even when he didn’t want to give them. She had a way of extracting information and it frustrated him to no end, he had no secrets with this woman around – ‘women and their feminine wiles,’ he always silently protested. If only he was as successful in his own torture methods… things would be much quicker and easier, less messy. All she had to do was flutter those dark, sweeping lashes and he would give her the secrets of the universe, whether she asked or not. The batting of his eyelashes wouldn't have the same level of charm, he mused. He was hopeless.

“As you wish… our dear beloved Queenie has broken the rules of our contract, and now there is a price to pay, I’m just trying to think of a suitable punishment.” He grinned as he malevolently rubbed his hands together.

“How? What has she done?” With her curiosity peeked, Belle leaned forward and had now propped her head on the back of her hand, hoping that her master would elaborate further. 

In an impishly high voice, Rumple seemed to transform into ‘the dark one’ as he sing-songed the rules of the contract and flourished his performance with the waving of his hands. “I told her once, I told her twice, she must play nice or pay the price. She was trying to steal something from me… something… with a certain amount of personal value, let’s just say.” His blackened eyes had relaxed on Belle’s gaze, and he could feel his heart sinking in his chest at the thought of the Queen actually being successful in her conniving schemes. 

Belle could see the subtle change in her master’s face, even in the tone of his voice, and, if she wasn’t mistaken, it looked and sounded like concern. “Well, is it safe now? I mean, what is it she is trying to steal? Can I help in any way at all?”

Little did his wee maid know, but it was Belle that the Queen was trying to steal. After the Queen’s last abrupt visit, she had been able to see that the Dark One had developed a soft-spot for the help, and the Queen was determined to use it to her advantage. “That woman will not be anywhere near this castle, and if she even attempts it she will regret the day she was born… that’s a promise. For now, I need to give her majesty a fitting punishment... a lesson she won’t soon forget!”

Belle frowned. For the last few days he had been on edge, and his thoughts were becoming darker and darker. What worried her was, he had even stopped eating lunch and dinner... Instead he sat ruminating in that infernal room he called a study.  
“Why the look, dearie? I’m the Dark One… It’s kinda my thing. That’s why I’m the Dark One, not ‘The light one’ or ‘the nice one.’ Images of him in brightly coloured clothing, or even white leathers had flashed through his mind. He was repulsed at the very thought. It was the stuff of his nightmares, plus white simply wasn’t flattering against his unusual swamp green scales.

Belle shifted off the velvet red lounge chair and made her way across the room to her master’s grand antique wooden desk. Before Rumple knew it, Belle was facing him and had perched herself up on his desk.

Rumple cleared his throat awkwardly. “There are 3 other chairs in this room, yeno?” He may have been a monster but he was one with manners. He wasn’t used to people sitting next to him willingly. The only time people were ever this close to him, they were usually tied up and terrified. Belle was totally relaxed and at ease, it was a lovely reprieve, even if it did unnerve him. 

“I’m well aware, I clean them often enough!” she playfully nudged his leg with hers before she gave him a cheeky smile. He waved his hand, admitting defeat. 

Belle slid over on the desk a little more to close the distance between them, and her hand rested on his, which had once again been tapping on the desk.  
“Rumple, can you not try it my way first? Haven’t you ever heard the expression ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’?” She had learned a few things from her master, one of which was steering situations and conversations so that they would go her own way... it was justified emotional blackmail. It was for his own good. Belle knew that this was the best way to get him to calm down and not do anything rash. 

He scoffed. Trust his wee maid to try and come up with the most peaceful method. “If King Arthur had a pen and piece of paper instead of Excalibur or Alice a quill instead of a sword to slay the jabberwocky, I think their tales would have ended quite differently; less victory and cheer, more bloodshed and mourning. So dearie, the next time someone tries to kill me or steal something I’ll be sure to let you loose on them with a pen first…” 

“You don’t have to resort to magic and violence for everything, sometimes all it takes is a simple word or even a letter. It might have a better outcome than the use of force, Rumple.” Belle couldn’t understand what could be so valuable to him – something that was worth him getting hurt, or worse, killed over? Nothing was worth that, surely!

“For you, perhaps, but it’s easier and much more satisfying to turn my opponents into a bug, specifically one that makes a nice crunchy sound when it’s squished. The Evil Queen would make a wonderful Beetle. A dung beetle… a teeny wee thing that would make a nice wee crunchy noise.” He was laughing, almost cackling as he gestured to the size it would be, mimicking flicking the imaginary bug away and standing on it. Belle didn’t find it funny at all, if anything she could only frown.

“Really, must you be so dark?” Belle was beginning to feel despair at this point.  
Rumple looked Belle dead in the eye.

“I can be much, much darker dearie…When something you value is under threat, you will do anything to protect it.” He didn’t want to make it any more obvious than that because the woman was like a dog with a bone, she was a persistent wee thing and he didn’t want to spill that he was really doing all of this for her. He would never live it down. A reputation that took decades to build, but seconds to shatter…

Belle sighed. “Can you not write to her and warn her about the consequences? I mean, she hasn’t stolen anything from you so make it clear that if she tries again then there will be no more mr nice guy…No?” 

“The dark one…. giving out a warning…? Yes, that’ll strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. They’ll be expecting poetry and love letters next. I think not ma dear!” As his sentence continued, his voice became a high pitched shrill in order to emphasise just how sarcastic he was being. 

She bit her lip before looking directly into those ever-so familiar brown eyes. “Please, for me. I know you are mad about it but please just promise me you won’t do anything. I… I… I just really don’t want to see you get hurt. I don’t know what I would do if you did.” As she spoke, her fingers had entwined themselves amongst his, it was a perfect fit. Her thumb continued to rub over his, soothingly. Belle’s blue pleading eyes had softened and he realised that the woman was beside herself with worry. Oh the irony…there he was, worrying about her just as much. As much as he drove her to the very brink of insanity, she cared about him a great deal. 

At that moment, Rumple’s heart burst in his chest. This woman would be his undoing, let alone Regina. There was nothing she couldn’t get him to agree to, and he knew it.  
Rumple admitted defeat once more, but he wasn’t about to let her know that… “I can’t make any promises, ya know...” and he gave Belle a cheeky little grin, trying to distract himself from the feeling of her smooth soft hands against his rough armoured scales - they could protect him from many a spell or injury, but Belle's love and care, no, she had managed to find a way through the almost impenetrable barrier. 

That was as good as it was going to get. Belle knew she had made her point and for her sake, he would at least try. Belle leaned forward and lightly pressed her nose to Rumple’s, before moving her lips up to place a ghostly kiss on his forehead. “Thank you, Rumple.” 

Just then, Belle hopped off the desk and ran to the little side table next to her chair, while Rumple was left open-mouthed, in a total daze with his mind reeling with what had just taken place. 

Belle returned and placed an object on his desk, “This’ll get you started… now, I’m going to go start dinner because you haven’t eaten in forever and I’m starving. If we aren't careful you will slip through that crack in the court yard someday...”  
As Belle made her way out of the room, Rumple cleared his throat and shouted, “Don’t forget, I didn’t promise anything…” 

“Oh… yes, I know…” She turned and smiled before leaving the room. Victory. 

Rumple sat staring at the ornate pen. He had actually given it to Belle as a gift when she wanted to write letters to her father. He couldn’t help but secretly laugh at the power his little maid had over the Dark One… 

“A pen, what’ll she have me doing next?” he muttered before sneering to himself.


End file.
